A topography sculpted of folded, skewed metal planes, the Vail House seems to enter into a love affair with the hill, blurring the boundaries between the natural and the artificial.

The design of the Vail House was generated by the integration of two disparate forces: the mundane requirements of the regulations imposed by zoning codes, economic constraints and the technical challenge of building on a steep hillside, and on the other hand the careful attention to the very specific condition of the site itself and to its surroundings. This made the project a unique expression of the generic and the specific.

When owners Geoffrey Moore and Genie Gable commissioned Architects Shubin + Donaldson to design this three-level Residence located in ‘The Riviera’ area of Santa-Barbara in California, they had searched for more than a year to find a site that met their exacting and almost contradictory requirements.  

Geoffrey Moore is an international businessman and writer who, when not traveling, splits his work time between a home office in Santa Barbara and a corporate office 85 miles south in Santa Monica.  He wanted a shaded, quiet office space filled with cutting-edge technology for global communication where he could write without distraction.  His wife is the principal of Genie Gable Interior Design, and a graduate of the Professional Design Program at UCLA. She sought sun-filled spaces with unimpeded views of the nearby Pacific Ocean and, at night, the city lights of Santa Barbara.

Andrade Morettin Associates, Architects designed this  summerhouse located at a short distance from the sea, in Itamambuca on the north coast of the State of São Paulo, in Brazil. The environment is hot and humid and the landscape includes exuberant vegetation.


What the architects wanted to create was a big shelter. A sort of a “shell”, that protects from the intense sun and the frequent rain, without blocking the natural cross ventilation that cools the house.

All Photos by Nelson Kon  
 

Japanese Architect, Katsuhiro Miyamoto brings us a  smart and well integrated project called the Clover House. With a total built area of 76m2 proves that beautiful things can come in small sizes.

The house is made of two levels; a basement and a first floor. It is spatially defined by three elements, the rectilinear retaining wall in the basement, the external wall of the ground floor, shaped as a square glass box, and most importantly, at the center of the house, curvilinear wall shaped like a cloverleaf 4.6m (15ft) high that emerges from basement to the first floor and help define the different spaces in the house.

When architects design a project for their own use, they usually get the freedom to experiment and develop new ideas. They also get to convey their philosophies without the hurdles that are usually put there by the client.

The Straw House - is an unusual design by the Architects for their house and associated studio office located in Islington, North London, England.  What makes the building stand out is the use of a number of innovative technologies based around principles of sustainable design, many of which were being used in an urban context for the first time. These include a new system of walling incorporating straw-bales.